Of Dragons and Love
by Milknite
Summary: Charlie is back in Hogwarts for the Tri-Wizard tournament where he meets a friend of the Twins; with their shared interest in magical creatures something more than just friendship builds. /Charlie/OC; rated T for mild use of profanities.
1. Introductions

**Heya, Milk here, now that I've almost finished 'In time', I'm free to write this little Charlie/OC fic because Charlie really needs some lovin'**

**As per usual, I've got a general idea of the story but this will be quite improvised so... yeah.**

***ehem* I don't own anything that you recognise only that which you don't.**

**Right! Let's start!**

Crystal sighed as she looked out of the train window; it was her last year at Hogwarts and she felt she would miss it a lot. Nevertheless, she was excited by the upcoming events as well; there was the Tri-wizard tournament; the subsequent Yule Ball in all its extravagance and, more importantly, the work experience opportunity she was going to get as a result of the aforementioned tournament. Needless to say, the events this year would make it the most exciting way to end her Hogwarts career. Breaking free from her thoughts she looked over at two of her friends, the Weasley twins, and was reminded of how she had befriended them back in her second year by passing on her 'superior' knowledge of the school grounds to enable them to wreck havoc in Hogwarts even in their first year. She broke into a content smile as she watched them play exploding snap.

The train journey passed quickly with the twins and it wasn't long before they reached Hogwarts. The Great hall was filled with many people, nervous first years, excited second years and, of course, 7th years like Crystal herself. She sat at the Gryffindor table listening intently to Fred and George talking about their experience at the Quidditch cup. The conversation was cut as Dumbledore started his yearly speech, the subject matter this time was the Tri-Wizard Tournament, a topic that Hagrid had informed her about, a month in advance. Crystal suppressed a snigger when she saw the faces of the Weasley twins at the news that the tournament was for the oldest students only and smirked when they burst into identical grins- a sign that they were going to try to enter no matter what. When Dumbledore had finished his speech food of all assorts started piling up on the plates in front of them, the rest of the night went on as it had done every other year.

The next few days consisted of many failed attempts by the twins to enter the cup and, each time, Crystal would simply watch in amusement as their ideas get stranger and stranger. Life continued in this manner until a certain boy who lived and Hufflepuff Hotshot were chosen to represent Hogwarts for the tournament, much to the former's dismay. However, the twins did not relent and their attention turned towards kidnapping and replacing the champions, many of these plans, unfortunately, required Crystal's unwilling participation.

Time passed and Harry became the subject for mass hate and Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students made the castle even more lively than usual. Furthermore, the time had come for the dragons to be kept in the forbidden forest. Consequently, it was also time for Crystal to begin her 'work experience' with the dragon keepers. Fred and George were following her intently as she made her way to Hagrid's hut to start the aforementioned work experience.

"come on Crys you know you want to." Fred said for the third time that week.

"Where are you going anyway?" George asked as Crystal continued walk briskly towards Hagrid's hut.

"For the 3rd time I'm not kidnapping Cedric OR Harry just so you can get into the tournament and I'm going to Hagrid's to ask for something about Care for Magical creatures." Crystal replied hoping to get them off of her trail so she could meet with Hagrid in peace. The twins pouted but otherwise stalked off back into the castle with disappointed faces; Crystal almost felt bad for them but her excitement easily overpowered that guilt.

Crystal knocked tentatively on the door of Hagrid's hut and smiled as she heard a pot smash followed by a string of curses. A few moments later, the door opened to reveal a rather flustered half giant who, nevertheless, greeted her with a huge grin.

"Crystal!" He said happily "Good ta' see yeh again. This is so excitin' I haven't seen dragons since-" He pause with a look of sadness on his face "Norbert."

A moment passed before he spoke up again "All right, I'll show you to th' forest, then."

Crystal smiled and followed Hagrid as he walked towards the forest, her already petite body was dwarfed even further in comparison to the half giant; it was a rather amusing sight for those who had chosen to stay outside for the few moments before curfew.

They walked so far away from the castle that it and the lake were out of sight. The sounds of the moving lake were replaced by shouts of men up ahead followed by an ear-splitting roar. Crystal was led around a clump of trees to reveal four dragons rearing on their hind legs inside an enclosure reinforced by thick planks of wood. They were roaring in anger as torrents of fire shot from their mouths into the sky, like a fireworks show only multiple times hotter and more dangerous. She watched as each dragon was surrounded by seven or eight wizards attempting to control them with stunning spells. She saw a tall red-head amongst them and noted that his hair was dangerously long and most probably a fire hazard.

When they had subdued their dragons, they hurried forward to tighten the chains securing them safely to iron pegs. The red-head moved towards them.

"All right, Hagrid?" he panted, he turned to look at Crystal "Is this the one you were talking about?"

"Hey there, Charlie" they greeted each other like old friends, Hagrid then looked at the girl beside him "Yea, she might not look it but she love dragons." he said with pride in his voice.

Charlie looked her up and down "She's a bit small for dragons, don't you think?"

Crystal stuck her tongue out in response, Charlie laughed "Fiesty enough, though."

He stuck out his ungloved hand, Crystal noted that it was rough and covered with calluses and blisters and attached to an arm with shiny burns. "I'm Charlie Weasley, nice to meet you."

She took his hand which was much bigger than her own, happy to finally be able to meet the highly regarded older brother of the Weasley twins. "Crystal Elliott, the pleasure's mine."

Charlie's eyes widened in sudden realisation "So _you're_ the 'Chris' that Fred and George talk about constantly!"

"And _you_ are the famous Charlie that they look up to."

A loud snore rang through the air and Crystal turned over towards the source of the noise with a snigger.

"Pretty things aren't they?" she whispered softly. "They're mothers, right?"

"Yeah, they asked for nesting ones, we're not sure why."

"Well, then Crystal now that yeh've seen the dragons, it's gettin' late so you ought to be back inside." said Hagrid finally remembering the time.

"Shit! I forgot about the time." said Crystal already starting to walk away "I'll see you around later."

The moment she finished speaking she started sprinting off back to the castle.

"Balderdash" Chrystal whispered with a smile to the Fat lady who was drifting off to sleep, she mumbled something about ungodly times but otherwise opened up reluctantly and Crystal climbed in.

"Where did you go?" said the two Weasley twins in a mock stern voice trying their hardest not to laugh.

"The forbidden forest... Did you know Charlie's in Hogwarts?" Chrystal replied holding in her giggles at the twins' mocking tone.

"What how did you know!?" they both said immediately dropping their fake tones.

"Saw him in the forest" She replied with a smirk on her face "But really, I'm tired and need my beauty sleep, see ya' tommorow, boys."

With that she walked up the stairs quietly throwing herself onto her bed the moment she saw it and closed her eyes reflecting on the events of the day.

**Man, this fic looks like it's gonna be pretty word heavy. I like to experiment with my fics hence why my style will generally be different from fic to fic until I find one that I'm relatively comfortable with.**


	2. Toast

**yo, I'm back with the next chapter. This is probably gonna be pretty weirdly scheduled o3o Oh well. Also this chapter is quite toast focused, I don't know why...**

Crystal woke up the next day, feeling well rested and surprisingly happy despite only having, what she assumed to be, a few hours of sleep. She dressed herself quickly and walked down to the Great Hall without bothering to check the time. As she reached the great hall, she noted that it was pretty early; a small number of students, mostly Ravenclaws, were scattered around the hall , to her surprise three familiar redheads were part of that number. Rubbing her eyes, she noted that it was Fred and George talking to their older brother. Deciding that their company was better than none, she walked towards them, her mind already wondering off to what she was going to eat.

"Mornin' fellas." said Crystal casually, taking a seat next to Charlie to even out the numbers.

"Crys! You're awake!" said George feigning surprise.

"And you don't look like a zombie!" Fred added in the same tone. Crystal stuck her tongue out in fake anger and Charlie chuckled.

"But that's not why we want you here-" continued Fred ignoring her gesture.

"You've got some explainin' to do"

Crystal yawned, taking a piece of toast from the table "Do I now?" she asked, taking a bite from her toast-_ it_ _was pretty bland, she needed some jam_.

"Yes-" said George.

"You do!" continued Fred.

"Why do you get to play with dragons without us!?" The finished in unison.

Crystal put down her toast, swallowing the last bite "I get to 'play' with them because I'm doing an internship." she said nonchalantly.

"Why didn't you tell us" pestered George.

"It never came up" she replied, summoning a jar of jam with a flick of her wand. "- besides, I'm technically not qualified to work with them yet." she took a knife and started spreading grape jam over her toast. "But no one really cares unless it becomes something big, in which case, they have to take action."

Crystal stopped talking, allowing the twins time to comprehend the situation, and took another bite from her toast-_ much better_.

"So-" Fred broke the silence.

"-we have to keep this a secret?" George finished the question.

"Yup-" Crystal looked up at the two twins with a relatively deadly stare "- or I'll have to hex you." they nodded understanding the seriousness of their threat, Crystal smiled "Good to see you understand."

Crystal took yet another bite from her toast, savouring the taste and the joys of actually having time to eat breakfast, while the twins, having gotten over the threat, started trying to steal her toast. Crystal slapped their and scowled at them.

"Touch my toast; you die."

Charlie laughed in response "You don't look like the kind of person to threaten others like that." he said.

Crystal swallowed her toast "I'm not unless-" she pointed at the two other redheads, who had now taken the opportunity to steal the toast "-it's those two-" they each took a bite from the jammy breakfast food "- in which case, it's the best kind of policy." She snatched the toast back and took another bite.

"I see..." said Charlie, chuckling at the show in front of his eyes.

"Anyway-" said Crystal, her mouth still chewing the toast"- aren't choo shupposed to be baah in the foresh?" she swallowed "-ehem- more people are coming in to eat."

Charlie glanced around "Damn!" he said quickly getting up "You're right! Gotta go, then, see you around."

"Bye, Charlie!"

"See ya' later"

With that Charlie rushed out of the Great Hall leaving the three of them to finish their breakfasts.

"We've got double charms this morning, what about you?" asked Fred after Charlie left, taking another bite out of Crystal's toast, again.

"Free periods" she replied "- And get off my toast!" she snatched away the remainder of her toast away from Fred.

"You're not gonna finish it anyway, and you used up all of the jam." said George taking the toast from her hands and finishing it 'for' her.

"Nooo! My toast!" said Crystal melodramatically, she crossed her arms and turned away in a dramatic huff "Meanies!"

"Aww, come on, Crys, we'll give you our toast." They said in unison handing her their toasts like a peace offering.

Crystal giggled and took both pieces of bread "I'm not hungry anyway." she admitted, throwing Fred's toast to George and vice versa; they both ate them without complaint, swallowing it in one bite. "Right, I'm off, try not to get into any trouble while I'm gone; I get bored without you guys around."

"We'll try..." they said in unison, hugging her as she walked out. She smiled and hugged them back.

**All those references to that piece of toast, it's almost like it's now become the main character xD I was feeling hungry when I was writing this so don't blame me o3o.**


	3. Conversations

**Yo, I'm back. Here's the next chapter.**

Crystal made her way outside of the school building, pondering her next course of action when she walked into something tall with an 'oomf'. That 'thing' turned out to be none other than Cedric Diggory. Crystal looked up apologetically at him.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there" She said with an apologetic smile.

He chuckled warmly "That's fine, what were you thinking about? You don't usually walk into people right in front of you."

"Just wondering what to do to kill time, any suggestions?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment " What about asking Hagrid for some interesting magical creature? Last time I asked for one, I got a Mackled Malaclaw, it bit a friend of mine and he kept falling off his broom for a whole week; it was quite amusing."

Crystal giggled at the thought "Oh! That sounds fun! I'll go ask if Hagrid has some, thanks for the suggestion" she said starting to walk away, she stopped, remembering something "Oh, and stay away from the seat where you normally go, there're quite a few _unfortunately_ placed charms around that area." she added with a wink.

He laughed "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." he said as they began walking their separate ways.

With a general idea of her intent, Crystal started making her way to Hagrid's hut; she purposefully took the long route , opting to walk through the grassy plains that surrounded the castle building. She never grew tired of the view that the Hogwarts grounds gave her, always finding beauty in the undisturbed nature of it all; she smiled as she walked through the dewy grass, feeling substantially amused by creating patterns with the grass albeit covering her shoes and socks with the small watery residue at the same time. Subsequently, by the time she reached the hut, her socks were soaked leaving her feet less than comfortable. Regardless, she kept walking in them, ignoring the mild discomfort as she stepped up the step and knocked on the door.

This time, the door opened without much hesitation and the smell of eggs and breakfast flowed out from the entrance.

"Mornin' May, what brings yeh here?" He asked pleasantly.

"Morning, Hagrid, I was just wondering if you have anything that I could help you with today; I have quite a few free periods, you see."

"Oh, not today actually" he replied rubbing the back of his head "Charlie told me that they're free fer yeh to come over today, though."

Crystal's eyes brightened "Really? In that case, I'll be off" she said excitedly, already moving over to the forest.

"Be back fer third period, we're searchin' fer Kelpies this time." Hagrid called with a chuckle as she had already travelled midway to the forest by now.

"Will do!"

Crystal made her way happily to the forbidden forest, a grin plastered on her face. Despite its dangerous nature, the forbidden forest was her favourite place to spend time in. One reason was that it was 'forbidden' to go there without consent, but, more importantly, the creatures that she found there never ceased to amuse and entice her, needless to say, she was happy to be there once more. Nevertheless, she walked briskly through the forest, this time, ignoring the bowtruckles who appeared from their hiding places to see the source of the noise that she was making. Despite her excitement, Crystal took a detour from the shortest route, knowing from past experience that a colony of Blood-Sucking Bugbears had taken residence by the road. She eventually, made her way to the clearing with the Dragons, they seemed calmer today, opting, simply, to curl around their eggs, ignoring the few wizards who walked past doing checks on them.

Moving closer, Crystal stared in awe at the dragons as they, in return, looked in amusement at the tiny figure in front of them. So they stayed like that for some time in relative peace, with Crystal standing still in awe, and the dragons, too lazy to move at something quite so insignificant. This relative calm was broken by the sound of a twig snapping; Crystal immediately jerked her head in the direction of the noise to see none other than Charlie Weasley, walking casually in her direction.

"Bloody hell, Crys" he exclaimed with a slight grin "are you an expert or something? They're the calmest they've been since we brought 'em here"

Crystal glanced back towards the dragons; they'd taken to staring lazily at her. "Well, it's only been two days" she replied nonchalantly "Besides, I'm not nearly as big or threatening as any of you guys so of course they're calm."

"Point taken" he replied "What are you doing here anyway? It's not break yet."

Crystal moved to turn towards him completely "Free periods." she replied.

"Ah."

"There really isn't much to do now-" he said as he rubbed his hand on the back of his head apologetically "sorry you had to come all the way here for not much"

"That's fine" she replied with a subdued smile, there was a pause and then her face lit up "If you're not busy, could I ask some questions about working in Romania?"she asked excitedly.

Charlie chuckled, amused by her sudden change of moods "Sure thing." he said, happy to have some form of distraction "What do you want to know?"

She thought for a moment "How's the weather there? Better than here in England, right?"

His smile grew wider "Well, it's definitely warmer over there; you can actually _see the sun_ from time to time."

Crystal laughed and feigned surprise "What!? The _sun?_ I've only heard of a handful of people who have seen such an elusive thing!" she exclaimed, suppressing her giggles.

"Aye, not many people believe me when I say that- but trust me, I've seen it in Romania."

"Well, that sounds pretty good- maybe I can make up for the lifetime of sun deprivation over there" she said with a grin.

"Well that's good" he replied with a similar grin on his face "Next question?"

Crystal's face scrunched up once more in thought then an idea came to her and she gave a lopsided grin. "Can I braid you hair?"

**Hehe, I felt like ending it like that. The next chapter might be up eventually ;3**


	4. The Hair Incedent

**Hello, everyone, I'm back with another chapter; looks like this one is gonna be a pretty light hearted fic eh? ;D**

"Can I braid you hair?" asked Crystal, her eyes were sparkling with excitement, desperately wishing to braid the long red hair of his.

His eyes widened "What?"

"Your hair" she replied, still smiling with her finger now pointing at his long red locks "Can I braid it?"

His face was riddled with confusion then his face scrunched up in defiance "No way! I'll look ridiculous."

Crystal put on her best pouty face and , puffing up her cheeks, she pleaded in a soft voice "Pleeeaaase~?"

Charlie sighed, realising that she was not going to stop until she got her way "Fine."

In that instant, Crystal's face lit up, her smile growing impossibly wide, and immediately her hands were all over his hair.

Crystal separated his hair into uneven clumps and began looping them around each other in ways that should not be physically feasible. Within what seemed like minutes, Charlie's hair was already 'French braided' into a giant heap resembling a bird's nest, with strands of hair sticking out at all angles. However, she didn't stop there, she kept piling up the hair into a ant nest formation, embellishing the details of the hair so that it began to look as though a five year old was let loose onto the poor man's head, which admittedly is quite close to the reality. After some time, Crystal was standing in front of him with an idiotic grin on her face.

"Done!" she finally announced much to Charlie's relief. "You look so pretty now!"

Crystal took out her wand and summoned a mirror for Charlie to see and he grimaced at the sight. "And what exactly is this?"

Crystal pulled a face looking mimicking that of a fashion designer "It's my greatest creation" she said in a fake tone causing Charlie to chuckle "I call it the bird's nest"

Charlie decided to play along "I never knew you were so... artistic" he said in false amazement.

"Well, what can you say?" She said, giggling "I was just born with it"

"Woah, Charlie, what happened-" rang a voice from the bushes.

"-to your hair?" came another, a perfect imitation of the first.

"-It looks like someone-" two mops of red hair were visible from the bushes.

"was playing exploding snap-" the hair was joined by two identical grinning faces.

"-on your head!" the both exclaimed as the jumped out of the bushes.

"Gee, thanks, guys." said Charlie, feigning annoyance.

"I think it looks _beautiful_" piped up Crystal with a grin on her face. "Why are you here anyway? This _is_ the _forbidden _forest, you know"

"Come on, Crys, don't be like that-" said Fred.

"-yeah, we're just here to pick you up; it's break time." completed George.

Crystal's eyes widened "I spent _that_ long braiding his hair?!"

"Well to be fair, he does have a lot of it" said George in a consoling manner.

"and you haven't had any since you were thirteen" added Fred jokingly.

"It kept getting caught or burnt." Crystal reasoned with a pouty face.

"That's true, judging from the amount of times it landed you in the Hospital ward, it could be considered a safety hazard." Fred agreed.

"Although, you don't do a good job of staying out of there even without your hair." George continued.

"Still, stop stalling, m'dear Crys" said Fred as he took Crystal's left arm.

"Yeah, you've got lessons to attend and NEWTS to pass" said George taking her other arm beginning to lead her back through the forest to the castle.

"See ya, Charlie" Crystal shouted as she followed the twins back through the forest leaving the redhead behind with mumbled goodbyes.

The trio made their way through the forest in a rush, arriving back at the castle with only two minutes to spare as they parted ways and sprinted to their classes. Crystal ran through the fields once more back to Hagrid's hut and arrived just as Hagrid did, panting heavily to catch her breath. She wheezed out an apology for being late and proceeded to walk towards the other Gryffindors in her class as Hagrid explained the objective of the lesson that day. She smiled as they began walking to the lake with wands in their hands as she thought about the hell of a time that her new found friend was going to have undoing her art.

Meanwhile, back in the forest, Charlie had nothing to do; the Dragons were still calm and the checks were being done by the other dragon keepers so he assumed a comfortable position, leaning against a tree, and began thinking. He'd decided that Crystal was nice, if a little eccentric, she was good friends with his brother's and he was relieved that the infamous 'Chris' that they so often talked about was not the worst kind of influence on them and seemed capable enough to look after them. His thoughts were disturbed as a fellow dragon keeper walked up to him.

"Charlie?" He asked, snapping him out of his daze.

"What's up?" Charlie replied with a sheepish grin.

"Um... what happened to your hair?"

Charlie's face flushed, his eyes widened in realisation as his hands rushed towards his hair "Oh um..." he said trying to think up an excuse for the state of his hair.

The man cut him off with a chuckle "Ah, never mind that. Charlie, could you take my night shift for me? I have something to do tonight."

Charlie nodded "Sure thing, if you buy me a butterbeer later."

"Thanks, mate. Oh and Charlie" he said as he turned back to the dragons "You might want to fix your hair before the others see." he continued with a wink as he walked off into the forest.

Charlie nodded as he began unknotting the mound of hair atop of his head.

**'Ello, this will be the last update for about a month while I'm off on holiday, hope this has been okay. And thank you all for the reviews 3 **


	5. Breakfast

**Heheh, missed me? I doubt it~ But I'm back anyways. I would apologise for not uploading in what seems like ages but things happen so.**

That night, in the warm confines of the Gryffindor common room, Crystal was sitting in front of the fireplace with a 23 inch long piece of parchment in her hand and her pen in the other writing up her charms essay. On either side of her, Fred and George were making her task near impossible by asking her questions at the pace of machine gun rounds. She tried her best to finish the essay like a good girl but soon found her patience waning. It wasn't long before she gave up and went off to sleep leaving her charms essay to do as a last minute task as per usual at the end of the weekend.

On the other hand, over in the forbidden forest, Charlie was up looking after the Dragons and they seemed oddly irritated at the darkness that night time brought. To make it worse, there were visitors, Hagrid had brought his girlfriend, the half giantess headmistress of Beauxbatons, to the scene and he could've sworn that he saw another man hiding amongst the bushes peaking on the Dragons making them more nervous than usual. Their presence means that he would have to stay awake until they left, meaning even less sleep for the poor redhead. Despite this, he fought his tiredness and trudged on, fulfilling his night shift and, consequently, tiring himself out completely.

Suffice to say, Charlie was not in the best of moods when he was woken up at the 'ungodly hour'- as he so put- of 2 o'clock... in the afternoon. The brave souls who dared to wake this poor man up and unleash his wrath were none other than the infamous red-headed pranksters and their beloved 'little friend', Crys, all of whom were wearing identical grins on their faces. However, their grins quickly faded as Charlie stood up from his bed, his face clearly showing killing intent. Two the three looked at each other and legged it, laughing madly as they ran around the little room trying to avoid the older redhead's rage.

Crystal, on the other hand, decided she had something better to do and ran a few laps before going at a tangent towards the kitchen area which the twins had taken care to avoid. Luckily for her, none of the boys seemed to notice and she began making brunch for both herself and the others. As the smell of bacon and freshly made toast diffused around the room, the running stopped and, like wild beasts tempted by food, they made their way towards the source of the smell. Crystal smirked as she heard their feet shuffle onto the kitchen floor and, with a flick of her wand, four plates full of food were laid out on the counter.

"Calmed down a bit now?" she ask with great amusement.

They nodded obediently causing her to chuckle

"Alright" she said getting out the cutlery and placing them on the counter "Time to eat."

Without much further ado, the boys started eating like there was no tomorrow, happily munching away at the simple meal. "Mornin', by the way" she added nodding to Charlie as she too began eating. When every last bit of food was eaten off the plates Charlie finally responded with a brisk but grateful 'thank you' earning a giggle from Crystal.

"and the beast has been tamed with breakfast." she said with a grin as Charlie's cheeks flushed a light shade of pink.

"Ah... that was an embarrassing thing to show you."

The twins' heads perked up at the mention of embarrassment "That's not him at his worst" said Fred.

"Yeah- you should've seen him after the new year's celebrations-" George added.

"-he was so grouchy that even food couldn't calm him" Fred continued.

"Hey! I'm sure you didn't come here to tell Crys embarrassing stories about me" Charlie interjected before they could do any more damage to his pride" now what did you want?"

The three stopped laughing for a moment as though suddenly remembering they had a purpose for being here; their faces were blank. Then they lit up.

"Oh Yeah!" They all said in unison.

"We were going to spend some quality time with you to make up for all those times you're in Romania!" said George grinning.

"And we're here to warn you about Crys before you make a mistake and face her wrath" Fred added in a very serious tone.

Crystal grinned and nodded at the comment looking scarily innocent.

"Don't be too scared, they're just precautions- really."

**Eh. I'll end it here. Sorry about that, I'll upload another chapter eventually .**


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